Gigabyte E350N-USB3 Motherboard Review - PAGE 1

Its odd how long it took for AMD's Fusion APUs to be sent for review. They have been available to OEMs for a few months now, making Fusion products available since this past January. The motherboard giants made the DIY community wait; MSI, GIGABYTE, ASUS and AsRock products appeared didn't appear even on virtual shelves for weeks and even then, the products were and still are in very limited quantities.

To be fair, as in addition to being a new product, AMD's Bobcat platform is a completely new architecture. It will take a lot of work and time on the OEMs' part to learn to leverage Bobcat adequately compared to simply working with a new series of processors like AMD's AM2, AM2+, AM3 and more. In the latter case, the OEMs' development costs are greatly reduced since the motherboard architecture remains roughly the same.

GIGABYTE was one of the first to crank out a motherboard based on AMD Fusion, the E350N-USB3. Is it really well-built and optimized, or just rushed-out? Considering the trend of excellent build-quality found in Gigabyte's products, it would be a disappointment to find the E350N-USB3, our subject today, to be the opposite.

Specifications

CPU

Built in with an AMD E-350 Dual-Core processor

Built in with an AMD Radeon HD 6310 (DirectX 11) graphics core

Chipset

AMD Hudson-M1 FCH

Memory

2 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 8 GB of system memory
* Due to Windows 32-bit operating system limitation, when more than 4 GB of physical memory is installed, the actual memory size displayed will be less than 4 GB.

Single channel memory architecture

Support for DDR3 1333(OC)/1066 MHz memory modules

Onboard Graphics

Integrated in the APU:

1 x D-Sub port

1 x DVI-D port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920x1200
* The DVI-D port does not support D-Sub connector by adapter.

1 x HDMI port, supporting a maximum resolution of 1920x1200

Audio

Realtek ALC892 codec

High Definition Audio

2/4/5.1/7.1-channel

Support for Dolby Home Theater

Support for S/PDIF Out

LAN

1 x Realtek 8111E chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)

Expansion Slots

1 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot, running at x4

Storage Interface

FCH:

4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors supporting up to 4 SATA 6Gb/s devices

USB

FCH:

Up to 8 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (4 on the back panel, 4 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)

Renasas D720200 chip:

Up to 2 USB 3.0 ports on the back panel

Internal I/O Connectors

1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector

1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector

4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors

1 x CPU fan header

1 x system fan header

1 x front panel header

1 x front panel audio header

1 x S/PDIF Out header

2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers

1 x debug card header
* This port is mainly used by repair technicians for debugging and problem diagnosis.